This invention relates to a mold handler for the foundry industry. In recent years no-bake molding processes have been developed in which sand molds can be made of sufficient strength that even without baking they do not require flasks. These flaskless no-bake molds are made from sand which is bonded together by organic chemical catalyst and binder combinations which result in molds with both desirable gas permeability and high strength. Prior to these developments, sand molds either had to be baked to give them sufficient bonded strength to retain their dimensional and structural integrity during mold handling, closing and pouring or the molds had to be made in mold flasks generally provided with trunnions so that they could be adequately supported and "rolled over", and supplied with jackets or support frames during pouring.
As will be apparent to those familiar with the foundry industry, molds for the production of metal castings are typically made in two parts with the bottom part being termed a "cope" and the top part being termed a "drag". The mold sand typically is packed around a pattern in a pattern box to make the cope and around a different pattern in a pattern box to make the drag. Accordingly, to close the mold the cope is drawn from its pattern box and the drag is drawn from its pattern box and the cope and the drag brought together in the "mold closing" operation. As will be well appreciated to those familiar with the foundry art, the removal of the mold parts from their respective pattern boxes is facilitated by providing the box and therefor the mold sides with a draft angle. The draft angle of the mold sides is usually of from 0-5 degrees from the perpendicular with the bottom or top of the mold part. Thus, any mechanical gripping of the mold part is not done against opposed parallel sides thereof but rather by gripping converging sides.
During the mold closing operation, the cope is set with its cavity open upwardly and the drag is brought to the cope with its cavity facing downwardly so that the two parts are assembled in register one over the other, and generally in a telescoping manner, to make a fully enclosed cavity which becomes the shape of the casting left after molten metal is poured into it, solidified and then removed from the mold, as by means of a "shake-out". During the time the molten cast metal is solidifying within the mold, gasses escape through the sand mold and it is for this reason that it is important to provide mold permeability. Until the heretofor mentioned developments in no-bake mold compositions, it had been a problem to obtain a proper combination of permeability and strength which did not require a flask. With the new technology which has been developed permitting chemically bonded no-bake molds, a problem of mold handling has been encountered. With no trunnioned flasks with which to handle the molds, and since molds do not have parallel opposing mold part sides, mechanical handling of the molds in a manner which did not damage them and render them useless has been a problem.
The no-bake mold handler of the instant invention has reduced the manpower required and increased production by firmly gripping the converging sides of flaskless no-bake mold parts with serrated gripper pads which are completely self-aligning and mounted on anti-friction spindles for ease in rolling over the mold parts for assembly. The self-aligning gripping pads easily and automatically adjust to any typical draft angle of mold part sides and the fluid cylinder operated gripping arms automatically adjust for any mold size. In one embodiment of the invention, the roll-over motion can be supplied with a motor drive which allows the operator to "jog" the mold angular position. Thus, it will be seen that the invention involves a no-bake mold handler which can be used to safely and efficiently pick up, move, roll over and close flaskless no-bake foundry molds.